Government says Northwestern province has a lot of unexplored high tourism potential sites which have remained underutilized and underdeveloped for a long time.
Northwestern province assistant secretary Mukwambuyu Katungu says despite tourism being the fastest growing industry in the world, the Tourism industry has not benefited Zambia in general.
He said the country’s share in the sector has remained low as it is only concentrated on the mighty Victoria falls in Livingstone city in Southern province at the expense of other equally important sites which he said remain untapped.
ZANIS reports that Mr. Katungu said during the provincial tourism development master plan consultative meeting held in Solwezi today.
He, however, said government has prioritized the tourism sector by unlocking the potential of the sector in all parts of the country in its bid to diversify the economy from the mining industry.
Speaking earlier, ministry of tourism and arts principle planner Lucas Zulu said the ministry with support from the European Union has procured professional consultants on the development of the national tourism master plan.
Mr. Zulu explained that the master plan is aimed at identifying key tourism opportunities in various parts of the country and how they can be developed.
He said the undertaking was arrived at when the ministry realized that the tourism sector was not performing to their expectations in terms of its contribution to the national development.
He said the team of consultants on the development of the national tourism master plan is in Northwestern province to identify key tourism sites in the province that can be pull factors of tourism and contribute to national development.
And stakeholders in Solwezi have proposed that a lot of infrastructures such as hotels, lodges, roads to the identified tourism sites need to be improved and established to attract tourists.
Thats a good observation by well informed government.
Surely as a nation its not healthy to depend on mining alone, we can take advantage of other natural resources to propel ourselves forward economically.
If we have progressive opposition partys like Green party, Zambia would be debating on what sort of tourism we should embark on.
But now look at how these UPND cadres have been wasting our precious time as a nation trying to talk and defend HH when the courts can and will do their job without seeking help from anyone.
leave hh alone my dear, why do you hate him so much? god is for all
I liked the scenic view of the Zambezi River as it re-enters Zambia from Angola in Chavuma and as the river spills its water over the Chavuma waterfalls. Indeed Chavuma is a potential tourist attraction.
The Kalungwishi River is spectacular for being endowed with a series of three waterfalls among which the Lumangwe Falls has features of a a mini-Victoria Falls. The Govt should extend a tarred road from Kawambwa Tea Estates to these beautiful waterfalls.
The planned construction of the railway line from Chipata to Serenje via Petauke can open up a southern corridor through Chief Sandwe into the South Luangwa National Park. Tourism is a potential money spinner in Zambia.
Potential is the word that is always attached to stetements about what zambia can do. Potential is only a word ACTIONS turned potential into reality.
Telling a region of pipo that their area has a potential to improve is only giving pipo false hope unless u can provide a formulated plan to develop the region.
Too much talk by politicians to placate the masses